Their success was both an individual matter and a cooperative effort, the 170 graduates were made to understand.

"The fact that you are sitting here on this stage tonight is the result of every positive choice you have made over the last four years," Class Leader Stephen Bogdan told his classmates.

Yes to that, replied Salutatorian Carter Sullivan.

But, he added, every one of the students gathered together under a massive white tent set up behind the high school was there, too, because of the support of a teacher or coach who by turns were "kind, helpful and friendly."

"Much of my success was due to cooperation," Sullivan continued.

If nothing else, the class of 2013 learned the value of working in teams, and supporting one another, Sullivan said. He urged his classmates to carry that lesson forward as they move on to additional schooling, the workforce, or service in the armed forces.

"When people feel supported, they will return the favor," Sullivan said.

Superintendent Howard J. Thiery III garnered strong applause both for what he said and the brevity with which he said it.

As he congratulated the students, Thiery also saluted their parents.

"Their success is your success," he told the parents.

To the graduates, Thiery said, "Be creative and flexible. You will do amazing things," and then adding, "Have a terrific future."

Valedictorian Peter Brandon began his remarks by reciting an all-too-familiar litany: "Haddam Killingworth is so boring. I wish I lived in California - or at least Saybrook. They have bowling."

Like Sullivan, he called out the people who coached Little League or volunteered as Girl Scout or Boy Scout leaders.

"A lot of them were our parents' friends," Brandon said.

What they were really doing "was teaching us to grow and learn - and have fun."

Brandon was both a Boy Scout and a long-distance runner. Both those pursuits taught him very similar lessons, whether it was hiking in the rain and refusing to give up in scouting or asking for pain to complete a distance race.

Those lessons, and the volunteers who helped to teach them, convinced Brandon that "We live in unique towns."

"And personally, I wouldn't trade HK for any place in the world," Brandon said.

At Macunas's request, seniors Alix Jansma and Nick LeMontagne performed "Can't Go Back Now" by the Weepies, with its exhortation, "Walk on. You can't go back now."

"You can't go back," Macunas told the graduates, "nor should you."

"If is about fulfilling your dreams in the future. What you become is basically up to you," Macunas said.

Be prepared, he added, for "the mental blueprint" of their lives to change.